Brittan said she had previously been offered compensation for another data breach by the Met, after they disclosed sensitive information about her first police interview by mistake to two people in Australia.
Speaking about the latest breach, the 61-year-old told the BBC: “It’s very shocking because they were meant to have learned all lessons and it would never happen again.
“And although the first one was far more egregious because it was very sensitive data that was sent to Australia, I was promised that they had learned and the same thing couldn’t happen again.
She added that many of Al Fayed’s alleged victims would be distressed by the breach, saying: “For me, it’s more of the same, really, and deeply re abusive, to be honest. It’s unbelievable.”
Jen Mills and Lindsay Mason, co-chairs of the Justice for Fayed and Harrod Survivors group – which represents a number of survivors – have demanded more explanations from the Met.
“For decades, survivors of Fayed had to carry what happened to them in silence, and every woman who eventually spoke had to find the courage to do so.
“Handing that over to the police is the hardest thing many of them have ever done, and this week they learned that information identifying them had been exposed to people they had never chosen to share it with.
“It is appalling, and the Met needs to explain how it happened.”
The organisation has also asked the Met to address how survivors’ information and privacy is being better protected since the incident, it said in a statement.
Dame Jasvinder Sanghera, an advocate for survivors of alleged abuse by Al Fayed, told the BBC: “I have had so many contacts today from survivors who have told me that they feel violated by the police in a space where there is already a lack of confidence in the police investigation.
“They said they received an insipid apology five hours later and, I am sorry, it is just not good enough.”
Brittan first reported allegations to police in 2017.
According to correspondence previously supplied to the BBC, she alleged she was sexually abused by Ahmed Obaidly, a former United Arab Emirates diplomat and associate of Al Fayed, after working for a company linked to the UAE royal family in the early 1990s.
The Met has said the original report, made to Devon and Cornwall Police in 2017, was transferred to London because the alleged offending took place within its jurisdiction. It said the case was initially investigated as a rape allegation against Obaidly, who died in 2015.
The force has also said criminal allegations concerning Mohamed Al Fayed were made in 2024 and now form part of Operation Cornpoppy, which remains ongoing.
In correspondence previously provided to the BBC, the Met said: “The live investigation into those who could have facilitated or enabled Mohamed Al Fayed’s offending continues.”
The force added that victim-survivors remained its priority and said it was committed to providing updates to those involved in the investigation.
The latest incident comes shortly after the ICO took enforcement action against the Metropolitan Police over two unrelated data breaches.
In a decision published on 5 August, the watchdog issued the force with a reprimand and enforcement notice after concluding it had failed to put in place appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information.
The ICO said its investigation had uncovered “serious and ongoing shortcomings” in data protection training.
It also found wider weaknesses in policies, procedures and assurance arrangements for handling sensitive personal data.
One breach involved an officer disclosing a stalking victim’s new address and telephone number to her alleged stalker.
As part of its enforcement notice, the ICO ordered the Metropolitan Police to improve its data protection training compliance, monitoring and governance arrangements.
Source link 2026-08-16 06:21:00 www.bbc.co.uk https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1w1yv987jqo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss
